“Better chances than Volkanovski”- Yair Rodriguez predicts Alexander Volkanovski’s move in the lightweight division
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Alexander Volkanovski
Yair Rodriguez firmly believes that he is ready for Alexander Volkanovski. Yair recently won his fight against Brian Ortega when the BJJ maestro popped out his shoulder while trying to escape an armbar attempt from Yair early in round 1. The two had been close friends before and it took a lot to make them fight, with an immediate title shot on the line.
While many were unhappy with the way things turned out during the fight, Yair is confident enough in his abilities that he trusts that he can be the one to really challenge Volkanovski. While not a glorious victory, in MMA, injuring your opponent to the point he cannot continue is the primary objective. In that regard, Yair’s victory over Ortega was as legitimate as it can get.
However, the champ himself doesn’t share this sentiment. He believes that Yair does deserve a title fight, but not against him just yet, on the MMA Hour podcast, Alex revealed that he wishes to see Josh Emmett and Yair, face each other for the interim title while he tries to capture lightweight gold.
Related – “I don’t care how you put it”- Yair Rodriguez shoots down the idea of an interim featherweight title
Yair Rodriguez is hell-bent on facing Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title
Yair is totally against the idea of an interim belt, and he talked about his future in a recent interview with MMA Junkie, he said, “I think a fight for him at 155 pounds could be good, but the fighters are still going to be very big for his stature. I’m not saying size is everything, but the level of fighters like Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira.
He added, “I think they’re very high ranking and caliber and I don’t think they’ll have too many issues fighting Volkanovski, and I say that with all the respect to the champion because he’s really good. But I do think whoever wins the belt at lightweight will have better chances than Volkanovski.”
Talking about Volkanovski, he said, “I want him to win more records, more things. I want him to be better than yesterday, so the day that I fight him I and I beat, I can automatically get some of that. That’s what I’m here for. At the end of the day, that’s what you’re looking for.”
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Suryansh Thakur
(1600 Articles Published)